Social Employment Fund partnership: Partnering to bring the SEF to communities across South Africa

HANDS-ON Experience Learning October 2023 | Issue 25

OPPORTUNITY

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Create new connections to opportunity for young people

SOCIAL EMPLOYMENT FUND (SEF) PARTNERSHIP: PARTNERING TO BRING THE SEF TO COMMUNITIES ACROSS SOUTH AFRICA

This learning brief explores some of the lessons learnt from the first phase of the Social Employment Fund (SEF), a state-funded stimulus package for civil society organisations that work on a range of community development projects – referred to as Strategic Implementing Partners (SIPs). By design, the SEF encourages partnerships among the different Strategic Implementing Partners, enabling them to pool resources and scale their projects.

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SOCIAL EMPLOYMENT FUND PARTNERSHIP: PARTNERING TO BRING THE SEF TO COMMUNITIES ACROSS SA

Issue 25 /// October 2023

THE GENESIS OF THE SOCIAL EMPLOYMENT FUND In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, “social employment” activities emerged as a key lever that could stimulate South Africa’s economic recovery. Typically, these activities are seen as contributing to the "common good", rather than private goods and/or services. As part of a host of publicly funded interventions, the South African government aimed to focus on and support the existing efforts of civil society organisations. The goal was to enable community-driven solutions to local problems through a Social Employment Fund (SEF). This encompassed tasks such as health and caregiving work, ensuring food security and nutrition, offering youth support and recreation, enhancing community safety and implementing measures to combat gender-based violence, among others.

Starting in November 2021, civil society organisations applied to be part of the SEF and by early 2022, 28 Strategic Implementing Partners (SIPs) were selected from various parts of the country. During the pilot phase, the Social Employment Fund aimed to create 50 000 work opportunities across diverse sectors, ranging from education and tourism to infrastructure development and music production.

These opportunities were facilitated through local partner organisations. The stipulation was that work opportunities created by the stimulus package must contribute to the common good and be accessible to unemployed South Africans, whether or not they have formal education or prior work experience.

i QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE SEF ›

The SEF is a government initiative that offers temporary employment opportunities to people engaged in work for the “common good” across various sectors.

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The SEF functions through partnerships with non-governmental organisations, public-benefit organisations and government entities.

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According to the fund’s terms of reference, participants must be unemployed, job-seeking South African citizens or people with confirmed refugee status that entitles them to work.

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The SEF supports an average of 16 hours of work per person per week, with participants expected to learn valuable skills that enhance their long-term employability.

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Eligible organisations committing to the SEF must provide employment opportunities for at least 1 000 participants during the grant period.

The work undertaken should emphasise meaningful skills transfer and human capital development.

This endeavour offered a crucial platform to demonstrate the collaborative potential of civil society and government in addressing some of South Africa’s most pressing challenges.

Conventionally, the government wields significant financial resources for managing public funds but can encounter delays in project implementation due to burdensome bureaucratic procedures. Conversely, civil society organisations are often nimble enough to initiate projects promptly, yet they may lack the financial resources to do so sustainably. Thus, the SEF is a fledgling example of how government and civil society can jointly confront ‘wicked problems’ like youth unemployment in the world’s most unequal society.

GOAL 3 /// All young people on pathways to productivity

OPPORTUNITY 9 /// Create new connections to opportunity for young people

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i SEF objectives

Elevating work for the common good The Social Employment Fund fosters partnerships with diverse civil society organisations, with the goal of creating work opportunities for unemployed individuals across various sectors, all for the common good. These partnerships pool resources and expertise to maximise the impact of initiatives.

Creating work opportunities Through the SEF, numerous work opportunities are created across different sectors, benefiting unemployed individuals lacking formal education or prior work experience. The programme strives to enhance skills, bolster confidence and improve employability among participants.

Community development The fund concentrates on community development by generating work opportunities within domains like early childhood development, environmental protection and community services. The SEF also seeks to enhance service quality in these areas and elevate the well-being of local communities.

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PARTNERSHIPS IN PROJECT SCALING The rollout of the SEF underlines the importance of partnerships, collaboration, and leveraging social networks for scaling projects and maximising impact. This aspect is critical to the success of the SEF programme. Through deliberate design, collaboration with local NGOs and community-based organisations can enable resource pooling, expertise sharing and expanded networks. This, in turn, extends the reach and effectiveness of projects towards achieving the programme’s goals.

Partnerships with government entities also facilitate coordination, regulatory compliance and access to additional support. The Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) plays a critical role in this regard by operating as the custodian of the SEF programme. It provides clear terms of reference for potential participants and manages the application process on behalf of government.

Furthermore, engaging with community leaders and influencers, and on social networks, enhances project visibility, fosters programme support and facilitates engagement with a broader audience.

One of the fund’s strategic implementing partners, Nal’ibali – a national reading-for-enjoyment campaign – managed to expand its reading programme from a few dozen implementers to 1 000. Nal’ibali is a flagship project of the DG Murray Trust, and was launched in 2012. Through its network of reading clubs and literacy mentors, Nal’ibali now reaches hundreds of communities.

“The SEF intervention isn’t only about the scale at which the programme seeks to operate, but about making specific entry into areas that require the most critical intervention through on-the-ground expertise already in place,” says Kentse Radebe, Innovation Director at DGMT, about Nal’ibali’s involvement in the SEF. Leveraging skills and knowledge already inherent in communities simplifies the rollout of the SEF programmes.

This opportunity for wide-scale, national collaboration did come with its own unique challenges. The Learning Trust, which joined the SEF to leverage post-COVID social employment programmes through after-school education initiatives, recruited over 6 000 unemployed individuals.

However, as special projects manager Charlene PetersenVoss noted, significant effort was required to align and direct all partners and participants toward a unified vision for the Learning Trust’s involvement in the SEF.

SOCIAL EMPLOYMENT FUND PARTNERSHIP: PARTNERING TO BRING THE SEF TO COMMUNITIES ACROSS SA

Issue 25 /// October 2023

“We have come to understand the challenges of our partners who implement programmes on the ground and have offered support, guidance and capacity building to ensure that we are implementing the programme effectively,” explains Petersen-Voss.

A similar experience was shared by the Small Projects Foundation (SPF), another key implementing partner for the SEF initiative that helped generate several thousand employment opportunities in the Eastern Cape. While SPF employed their own proven models and interventions of providing opportunities to empower youth with information, skills and work experience, they too struggled with the scale of delivery.

Yet success is evident among the participants themselves as they learn and grow in a multi-level collaborative environment.

“What I have learnt through my experience of SEF is the importance of teamwork and working towards a common goal across many different organisations,” says Ayanda Ncube, one of Dlala Nje’s participants.

“We believe that building their character, competence, compassion and communication with support and connection can help them survive and thrive, and learn to lead,” says Cromhout of the Small Projects Foundation.

“Community service, access to skills and proof of experience can help them land themselves a job in the future.”

“The opportunity to take our models to scale and replicate services to hundreds of communities while providing hope for youth has been immensely enjoyable.”

Paul Cromhout, CEO of the Small Projects Foundation.

“The dispersed servicing model, which encompassed more than 120 sites, alongside other challenges like load-shedding and the work readiness of participants – most of whom had never worked before – proved to be tough. But we persevered and provided opportunities in places they were sorely needed,” says Cromhout.

Grant Ngcobo, CEO of Dlala Nje, another strategic implementing partner providing employment opportunities to participants in the tourism sector in Johannesburg, echoes the sentiment. He says that while the SEF pioneered addressing youth unemployment, managing the growing number of participants in his organisation has proved tricky.

“It has been an exceptional opportunity to learn the importance of collaboration, but it has not been easy,” says Ngcobo.

“The biggest challenge has been the administrative load that comes with managing so many participants coming into an environment they are not yet familiar with. We need to induct participants better to ensure they understand what they are getting into.”

GOAL 3 /// All young people on pathways to productivity

OPPORTUNITY 9 /// Create new connections to opportunity for young people

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PARTNERSHIPS TO SHARE THE ADMINISTRATIVE LOAD

LEARNING PARTNERSHIPS

Given that many of the organisations involved in the programme had not previously managed such large groups of employees, various administrative challenges were encountered. These included the management of payroll, participant contracts and personal data. At times these challenges led to payment delays or errors, imposing administrative burdens on partner organisations and causing financial strain for participants. Such issues negatively affected their motivation to take part in the programme.

The Western Cape Economic Development Partnership (EDP) established the Social Employment Learning and Support Network (SEN) to support civil society organisations participating in the SEF.

The Johannesburg Inner-City Partnership (JICP) operated as a SIP during this phase of the SEF, partnering with multiple local organisations to provide employment opportunities to participants. Its CEO David van Niekerk notes there were “coordination challenges” in ensuring partner organisations met the administrative requirements and aligned with the SEF’s vision.

“The experience has not been seamless throughout and that led to some of our organisations dropping out during this phase, and may well influence the decision of those that remained to continue to take part in future SEF phases,” says van Niekerk.

“Another challenge has been participant attrition, which results in recruitment and contracting of participants running continuously, an admin-intensive process that adds to the complexity of being a partner organisation.”

However, this situation also provided an opportunity for organisations that managed to meet the administration requirements and remained committed to the entire SEF phase.

Organisations of various sizes had to partner with one other to strengthen their overall administrative, managerial and reporting capacities in order to deliver at scale. This approach also enabled much smaller grassroots organisations to contend for government funding, which they otherwise would not have been able to do.

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Throughout the SEF implementation, organisations and participants shared knowledge and enhanced their skills, fostering innovation and applying best practices.

By streamlining policies and administrative processes, information exchange became smoother, and the SEF was able to quickly improve the skills of partner organisations and participants in a sustainable manner.

Petersen-Voss from the Learning Trust believes that participants have benefitted the most. “Although [the SEF] has been beneficial to partners, participants and communities in which its programmes are implemented, I believe the biggest benefit has been to the individual. Social employment programmes offer training and skills development opportunities to participants,” says Petersen-Voss.

Such work experience is invaluable for young people as it equips them with essential skills, boosts confidence, and enhances their employability. It also plays a crucial role in guiding their career choices and preparing them for future success in the job market.

“By engaging in meaningful work, individuals gain a sense of purpose, self-confidence, and empowerment, which can positively impact their personal and professional growth,” says Petersen-Voss.

“In addition to creating part-time work opportunities, the biggest benefit in my opinion is that the programme is upskilling participants with soft skills like people skills and time management, and hard skills like taking blood pressure tests and preparing soil to plant veggies. These combined skills instill confidence and workplace preparedness in the individuals participating in the SEF,” says Petersen-Voss.

“The change is being felt at a community level too.

Participants are experiencing the dignity and pride associated with being able to provide for their families and being able to contribute to their community.”

SOCIAL EMPLOYMENT FUND PARTNERSHIP: PARTNERING TO BRING THE SEF TO COMMUNITIES ACROSS SA

Issue 25 /// October 2023

LESSONS LEARNED

1 PARTNERSHIPS However, not all participants found what they were hoping for from the experience due to mismatches in skills, interests or career goals.

“Youth unemployment is such a huge problem that people will take what they can get, but with the SEF some realised they had no interest in what we offered,” says Ngcobo of Dlala Nje. “Some participants found they were too shy to speak openly in public – something you need to do in the tourism sector.

So, they just hung around and didn’t really take advantage of the entire experience. If they found employment opportunities that better matched their skills and aspirations, they left.”

Collaborating with local NGOs and community-based organisations is essential for scaling SEF projects and maximising their impact. By pooling resources and sharing expertise, initiatives become more effective and reach a broader audience.

2 GOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT Engaging with government entities is vital for successful SEF implementation. It ensures coordination, regulatory compliance, and access to additional support, strengthening the programme's foundation and effectiveness.

3 COMMUNITY SUPPORT Community leaders and social networks play a powerful role in SEF projects. Their involvement amplifies the visibility of initiatives and fosters strong community support, contributing to long-term sustainability.

4 CAPACITY BUILDING Encouraging knowledge sharing and learning among organisations and participants drives innovation and best practices within the SEF. This continuous improvement enables effective strategies to be adopted throughout the programme.

EXPERIENCE 5 WORK BENEFITS Providing work experience through the SEF has significant benefits for participants. It equips them with valuable skills, boosts confidence, and enhances employability, positively impacting their personal and professional growth.

GOAL 3 /// All young people on pathways to productivity

OPPORTUNITY 9 /// Create new connections to opportunity for young people

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6 ADDRESSING ATTRITION Attrition, caused by administrative difficulties and skills mismatches, poses a challenge to the SEF. To ensure long-term success, it's crucial to address these issues and retain participants in the programme.

7 HOLISTIC APPROACH Overcoming challenges requires a holistic approach.

Creating clearer career pathways, providing ongoing support and mentorship, and improving programme administration and communication are essential elements for effective problem-solving.

8 POLICYMAKERS' ROLE Policymakers and stakeholders have a vital role to play in strengthening the SEF. Incorporating lessons learnt from the first phase and creating an enabling environment for future initiatives will enhance the programme's overall effectiveness and impact.

WHAT’S NEXT? The experiences of organisations and participants in this SEF phase underline the importance of partnerships, collaboration, and leveraging networks for scaling projects and maximising impact. Through effective collaboration, resource sharing, and knowledge exchange, these organisations have achieved significant outcomes in addressing unemployment and promoting community development.

Addressing challenges like participant attrition requires a holistic approach that includes providing clearer pathways for career development, offering ongoing support and mentorship and improving programme administration and communication. Ultimately, considering ways to enhance job security within a social employment framework nationally in South Africa could also prove to be beneficial.

By integrating the lessons learnt from these experiences, policymakers and stakeholders can strengthen the Social Employment Fund and create an enabling environment for future initiatives that simultaneously addresses the dual objectives of jobs and community development.

This learning brief was written by Nickolaus Bauer and edited by Rahima Essop. The brief is based on contributions from the Economic Development Partnership, DGMT, Dlala Nje, the Johannesburg Inner-City Partnership, the Learning Trust, and the Small Projects Foundation.

Th i s i s t h e l e a r n i n g ex p e r i e n c e of :

“By engaging in meaningful work, individuals gain a sense of purpose, self-confidence, and empowerment, which can positively impact their personal and professional growth.”

Charlene Petersen-Voss, special projects manager for the Learning Trust

GOAL 3 /// All young people on pathways to productivity

OPPORTUNITY 9 /// Create new connections to opportunity for young people

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